The present invention relates to a system comprising a remote controlled apparatus and an associated remote control device.
It relates more particularly to such a system in which the remote controlled apparatus is furnished with a display device or is adapted to be used by being linked to such a device, for example a television receiver, a video recorder or a decoder of the video signal received from a satellite or via cable.
Remote controls are increasingly being used to remotely control the functional features of apparatuses of this type. In general they comprise a number of buttons coupled to circuits which make it possible to transmit control signals, generally sent in coded form by infrared carrier, to the remote controlled apparatus. In what follows, the invention will be set forth while referring only to a television receiver, for the sake of simplification, but the invention applies more generally to any type of remote controlled apparatus comprising, or linked to, a display device.
The use of a remote control device is sometimes felt to be complex by the user, for example in the case where his television can receive several tens of different stations, he does not always remember the number associated with each of the stations which he can watch. Likewise, the controls of the television (picture, sound, etc.) as well as certain functional features (programme guide, wake-up function, etc.) are often accessible via a menu and submenus which oblige the user to perform several successive operations.
This is why voice-based remote control devices have already been proposed, in which a microphone and a voice recognition circuit, which may be disposed in the remote control or, more advantageously, in the remote controlled apparatus, are provided. The user can thus access the various functional features of the apparatus simply by uttering key words corresponding to the said functional features.
The problem is that very often the user no longer exactly remembers words which he has to utter in order to control certain functional features, in particular when he does not use them frequently. In this case, he still prefers to use the buttons of the remote control and the benefit of providing a voice-based remote control is therefore limited.
An object of the present invention is to solve this problem.
Accordingly, the invention proposes a system comprising: a remote controlled apparatus furnished with a display device or adapted to be linked to such a device; a remote control device comprising a microphone; voice recognition means adapted to receive the signal emanating from the microphone and to generate a signal for controlling a functional feature of the apparatus corresponding to the word or group of words picked up by the microphone, in which the functional features of the apparatus are accessible by the remote control device through a tree of menus adapted to be displayed on a screen of the said display device. According to the invention, the system comprises means for displaying a list of the words or groups of words corresponding to the functional features of the apparatus which can be accessed by voice control, the said list being adapted to be displayed independently of the display of the menus.
By virtue of this list, the user knows immediately what functional features are accessible by voice commands and, above all, he sees the key words which he has to utter in order to access these functional features. Thus, he no longer has any hesitation and can profit fully from all the possibilities offered by voice-based remote control.
According to an aspect of the invention, the list of functional features which can be accessed by voice control is different depending on what context the apparatus is in.
According to a particular embodiment, the list of functional features which can be accessed by voice control is specific to each menu or submenu.
In this particular embodiment, functional features of the apparatus can be accessed by voice control by short-circuiting branches of the tree of menus.
According to another aspect of the invention, the display means are adapted to display the list of functional features which can be accessed by voice control in a window of the screen, the words or groups of words corresponding to the said functional features scrolling through the said window. In this case, voice controls are provided for stopping and for triggering the scrolling of the list through the window (31).
According to a particular embodiment, the remote control device comprises a switch which can be actuated by the user so as to authorize the transmission, by a transmitter, of signals originating from the microphone, the displaying of the list of functional features which can be accessed by voice control being proposed to the user when the said switch is actuated.
The invention also relates to a remote controlled apparatus furnished with a display device or adapted to be linked to such a device and comprising voice recognition means adapted to receive a signal emanating from a microphone and to generate a signal for controlling a functional feature of the apparatus corresponding to the word or group of words picked up by the microphone, the said functional features of the apparatus being accessible via a tree of menus adapted to be displayed on a screen of the said display device, characterized in that it comprises means for displaying a list of the words or groups of words corresponding to the functional features of the apparatus which can be accessed by voice control, the said list being adapted to be displayed independently of the display of the menus.